Award winners and shortlist
Advocate of the Year
An individual working with tech who is a role model and has gone out of her way to support the cause of getting more women in IT with a proven track record in advancing career opportunities for women for 2 or more years. As well as examining the women in IT initiatives the candidates have pioneered to inspire women to succeed in technology, judges will also assess their leadership, evidence of growth and the initiative’s impact on, and integration with, the business specifically.
Winner
Kirsteen King, News UK
Shortlist
Akua Opong, London Stock Exchange Group
Antonia Forster, Unity
Bingqian Gao, Aktana
Helen Needham, Capco
Kirsteen King, News UK
Nisha Notani, Amazon
Polly Moore, Xiatech
Priyanka Gangishetty, Microsoft UK
Sahydi Garcia, Morgan Stanley
Yota Trom, Together in Tech
Sponsored by:
Akua Opong, London Stock Exchange Group
Antonia Forster, Unity
Bingqian Gao, Aktana
Helen Needham, Capco
Kirsteen King, News UK
Nisha Notani, Amazon
Polly Moore, Xiatech
Priyanka Gangishetty, Microsoft UK
Sahydi Garcia, Morgan Stanley
Yota Trom, Together in Tech
Sponsored by:
Ally of the Year
A senior figure who has gone out of their way to improve the diversity levels within IT, within the organisation and/or in the wider community. Successful nominations must provide case studies or examples of how the candidate has gone out of their way, or strategically prioritised, getting more diversity of talent into IT and/or supporting them in their careers.
Winner
Kim Lawrie, Engine Creative
Shortlist
Aftab Taylor, JLL
Alison Williams, dunnhumby
Bev Markland, Agilitas
Darren Miles, Centrica
Kasia Fisher, Vodafone UK
Kim Lawrie, Engine Creative
Suman Bala, EasyJet
Susie Coombs, Morgan Stanley
Webilor Ediale, Vodafone UK
CIO of the Year
A female Chief Information Officer or head of information technology (IT) who has demonstrated innovation and IT excellence. Judges will look at projects and achievements spanning the current organisation or others if applicable, within the last 2-years. Examples of best practice, leadership, ROI generated and alignment to business goals must be included.
Winner
Shortlist
Daria Grishina, Danone UK & Ireland
Jo Graham, Boohoo.com
Louise Bunting, Yondr Group
Natascha Polderman, Schillings International
Sponsored by:
CTO of the Year
A chief technology officer or technology director who has demonstrated positive impact on the company’s top line and driven new customer value through the innovative use of technology. Candidates will include examples of strong leadership and how they have employed a technology strategy to enhance product development and improve the service the company provides to customers. Judges will also assess how well ingrained the chief technology officer is in the business and how she has helped put technology at the heart of the business, driving strong commercial results in the process.
Winner
Niki Trigoni, Navenio
Shortlist
Avril Chester, RIBA
Georgina Owens, Liberis
Hazel Olivier, (Formerly) TradeCrediTech Ltd
Joana Paiva, intelligent Lab on Fiber Ltd (iLoF)
Niki Trigoni, Navenio
Sharon Moore, IBM
Data Leader of the Year
A female IT, technology or business leader who has demonstrated successful results in data technology in the last 2 years. This could include demonstrations of successfully deploying data technologies; improving how a company uses or deals with data; delivering effective data strategies; enhancing decision-making with data; or furthering knowledge, awareness and education around data and related technologies.
Winner
Neha Pandey, Direct Line Group
Shortlist
Bingqian Gao, Aktana
Candice Pressinger, Elavon Merchant Services
Charlotte Mansfield, Places for People
Clare Halligan, Tata Consultancy Services
Clare Mortimer, IBM UK Ltd
Helen Fell, Moorhouse Consulting
Melanie Liddy, Liberis
Munira Khalifa, Barnardos
Neha Pandey, Direct Line Group
Sandra Stanley, dunnhumby
Sponsored by:
DEI Recruit and Advancement Initiatives of the Year
This award will be presented to a project or initiative that has had demonstrable success in improving the recruitment, onboarding, development and/or progression of underrepresented talent. This may be a digital technology driven initiative or project that has also improved communication, engagement and support and removed a significant barrier to change affecting diverse talent.
Winner
Aspire Project
Shortlist
Raising Rebels Resoruce – Global Equality Collective
Aspire Project – mthree
iExcel Programme – Tata Consultancy Services
Digital Transformation Leader of the Year
A female chief digital officer, digital director or leader of a digital transformation who has led an IT/digital transformation or business change programme driven by technology in the last 2-years. Judges will look at examples of the technology and innovation involved; leadership; best practice; results and return on investment; alignment to business goals; and how culture shifts were managed.
Winner
Susie Day, NHS Digital
Shortlist
Angela Jenner, BT
Ash Finnegan, Conga
Jackie Hale, Vodafone UK
Kristine Long, IBM
Natalie Coaten, IBM
Pallavi Deshpande, Pearson PLC
Paula Abasolo, Global Tailor Ltd
Pooja Bagga, Royal Mail
Robyn Furby, NFU Mutual
Susie Day, NHS Digital
Diversity Lead of the Year
This award is open to the VP of Diversity, Chief Diversity Officer, Heads and Directors of Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion in the tech industry. This person has demonstrated success in addressing inequalities and improving outcomes, ensuring a culture where all employees can thrive. This nominee is a role model and innovative leader in actively supporting employees; has introduced organisational change that can be measured in terms of staff engagement, retention, satisfaction, and wellbeing. This person is a great influencer and inspires and motivates others to improve the business for all.
Winner
Tolu Oke, AWS
Shortlist
Arusha Gupta, LTI
Chika Ripley, IBM UK
Emily Markey, Credera
Jennifer Stanzl, Tata Consultancy Services
Kim Lawrie, Engine Creative
Nicoleta Raportaru, IBM
Selina Tishler, Microsoft
Sharon Peters, Marks & Spencer (M&S)
Sue Gregory-Phillips, Centrica
Tolu Oke, Amazon Web Services
Sponsored by:
Employer of the Year
This award is for a technology organisation that has demonstrated a great effort to attract and retain more diverse talent, or a company from any other industry that has demonstrated great efforts to attract and retain more diverse talent in its IT and/or digital department. Judges will look at efforts the employer has made to create a more diverse and inclusive working environment.
Winner
Iterable
Shortlist
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
IBM
Iterable
Snap Finger Click
whyaye
Entrepreneur of the Year
A female leader of a technology, digital or e-commerce start-up that has demonstrated excellent growth in the last 2-years with a coherent and sustainable strategy in achieving it. Judges will look at demonstrations of growth (turnover, profit, employees etc.), standout achievements and customer testimonials.
Winner
Liz Ashall-Payne, ORCHA
Shortlist
Anna Barsby, Tessiant Ltd
Daryn Edgar, LYTT
Emma Forward, Emma Forward Ltd
Emma Sinclair MBE, EnterpriseAlumni
Joana Paiva, intelligent Lab on Fiber Ltd (iLoF)
Liz Ashall-Payne, ORCHA
Maria Lema, Weaver Labs
Maureen Robson-Norman, whyaye
Poppy Gustafsson, Darktrace
Sarah Fatchett, 365 Response
Sponsored by:
IT Team of the Year (led by a woman) Private Sector
An IT team, led by a woman, that has delivered real value – with tangible business results – to a company. Judges will look at projects and achievements, along with examples of best practice, leadership, ROI generated and alignment to business goals.
Winner
Christina Morris, Just Eat Takeaway
Shortlist
Christina Morris, Just Eat Takeaway
Grace McElwaine, Accenture
Jane Ellis, Jaguar Land Rover
Janine Cook, IBM
Kasia Fisher, Vodafone UK
Kay Davis, Lloyds Banking Group
Kirsten Walker, Marks & Spencer (M&S)
Kirstin Duffield, Morning Data
Lynne Mills, Microsoft
Uma Rijhwani, Tata Consultancy Services
IT Team of the Year (led by a woman) Public Sector
An IT team, led by a woman, that has delivered real value – with tangible business results – to an organisation. Judges will look at projects and achievements, along with examples of best practice, leadership, ROI generated and alignment to business goals. This sector specific award focuses on professionals that work for public/Govt and public bodies, and/or professionals working in private companies where their entry/work is related to a public sector or mutual organisation.
Winner
Pooja Bagga, Royal Mail
Shortlist
Cheryl Jepson, Places for People Group
Faye Burrows, Environment Agency
Laura Kirby, NHS Digital
Louise Fitzgerald, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
Pooja Bagga, Royal Mail
Ritu Yadav, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
Suzanne MacRae, Moorhouse Consulting
Robyn Furby, NFU Mutual
Deepti Misra, Tata Consultancy Services
Shabnam Nida Wazed, AGAM International
Next Generation Leader of the Year
A woman under the age of 30, or who turns 30 in 2022, who has progressed rapidly though their career and demonstrated business value and innovation using technology. This could include demonstrations of successfully deploying technologies; improving how a company approaches technology; delivering effective IT or technology strategies; enhancing decision-making with technology; creating business value, efficiencies and cost savings, or improving services, through the use of technology; driving new innovation in the industry; or furthering knowledge, awareness and education around technology. Candidates must have a 2-year track record of work and contribution to the organisation.
Winner
Hannah Crompton, bp
Shortlist
Gul Aydin, Codementum
Hannah Crompton, bp
Holly Jenkins, Waste Logics Software Limited
Jordan Pearson, Mission Labs
Priyadarshini Veeravalli, SHS Group
Rachel Tate, Direct Line Group
Shabnam Wazed, Agam International
Tanisha Sharma, News UK
Vibhusha Raval, GSK
Sponsored by:
Outstanding Contribution of the Year
This category recognises the achievements over a long period of time which has made an important contribution to the general standing of the technology industry. This individual has dedicated a major part of their working life to helping and supporting others. Judges will be looking for evidence of multiple projects and how they have impacted women and young girls.
Winner
Isabel Straw, NHS and University College London
Shortlist
Beata Mosio, Marks & Spencer (M&S)
Clare Sudbery, Made Tech Limited
Faye Burrows, Environment Agency
Helen Needham, Capco / Me.decoded
Isabel Straw, NHS and University College London
Jessica Figueras, Hither Strategy / UK Cyber Security Council
Nicole Mather, IBM
Prasastika Sarkar, Tata Consultancy Services
Princess Bernard, Accenture
Tejaswini Ingole, Tech Mahindra Ltd.
Sponsored by:
Outstanding Diversity Network of the Year
This award recognises an employee network that strives to ensure the views of its community are heard and acted on to change the system. This network has influence and inspires and motivates its stakeholders to improve the work environment and ways of working for its members. It must be able to demonstrate a change in a way or working, process, or outcomes for an impacted group.
Winner
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Wellbeing Network – Credera
Shortlist
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Wellbeing Network – Credera
Black Network – Deloitte
Women’s Network – NHS Digital
Minds Employee Network – Tata Consultancy Services
The Representation Team – Accenture
Women in Tech (WIT) Network – Unilever
WIT Network – Valcon
Sponsored by
Security Leader of the Year
A female CSO, CISO or any other senior IT security function (including cyber security and data management), within a UK organisation who has delivered outstanding work. Judges will assess the candidates’ innovative approaches to security and the impact of their policies, procedures and projects on the business.
Winner
Naina Bhattacharya, Danone
Shortlist
Candice Pressinger, Elavon Merchant Services
Julia Cox, Alert Logic
Kate Dadlani, Logicalis UKI
Michelle Rogerson, Places for People Group
Naina Bhattacharya, Danone
Alexis Alexander, Liberis
Social Mobility Project of the Year
This award will be presented to the individual or organisation that has made an outstanding contribution to addressing social-economic inequalities. The award recognises projects/initiatives that encourage social mobility and sustainable community involvement from all backgrounds.
Winner
Padmasini Dayananda, Cognizant
Shortlist
Georgina Barnard, Dudley College / Black Country and Marches Institute of Technology
Lauren Kisser, Amazon
Lauren Pak, Fjord (Part of Accenture)
Padmasini Dayananda, Cognizant
Sustainable Tech Award of the Year
This award honours an organisation or company using technology to improve the lives of others and the world around us. It recognises corporate social responsibility, charity work or green and sustainability initiatives that are driven or implemented using pioneering digital techniques. Entries will be judged on their effectiveness, innovation and overall commitment to doing good. Entrants should reference how their technology links to the UN Sustainability Goals, and which SDGs in particular.
Winner
Veera Johnson, Circulor
Shortlist
Akua Opong, London Stock Exchange Group
Amanda Brock, OpenUK
Veera Johnson, Circulor
Sponsored by:
Woman of the Year
A woman who has demonstrated the highest degree of IT excellence, innovation and leadership over the last 2 years, and shone a light on the great things women in IT can achieve. Candidates should have not only have demonstrated outstanding business- and/or technology-focused achievements, but also give examples on how they have actively sought to bring more diversity into the technology industry.
Winner
Larissa Suzuki, Google Cloud
Shortlist
Amanda Brock, OpenUK
Belinda Parmar OBE, The Empathy Business Limited
Emely Patra, Salesforce
Helen Potter, SABP NHS Foundation Trust
Kati Arndt, IBM UK Limited
Larissa Suzuki, Google Cloud
Lisa Slade, Accenture
Maureen Robson-Norman, whyaye
Poppy Gustafsson, Darktrace
Rachel Habergham, NHS Digital
Sponsored by:
Frank Recruitment
Judges
Elaine Allen
Elaine Allen has 20+ years of experience growing client accounts spanning a range of industry sectors - e.g. Finance, HR, Health, Telco, Travel, Retail, Government, Utilities and Logistics sectors. Today, Elaine is Vice President of Service Cloud for Business Services and Ireland at Salesforce with a particular focus and passion for improving customers' client experiences and service operations. Elaine is passionate about Diversity & Inclusion and an advocate for Women in Tech. Elaine won 'Best Women Client Executive' in 2020 at the Women in Sales Awards.
Tanvi Bhardwaj
Tanvi is the CoFounder and CTO of MishiPay. She was named winner of the prestigious Anita Borg Institute WEQ Award 2016 for Women in Tech and Entrepreneurship, and in 2019 was named in the prestigious Forbes '30 Under 30' list. Before joining MishiPay, she created the whole iOS platform from scratch for Chatimity, a pseudonymous chat platform, which amassed over 3 million active users, helping the company's acquisition by Freshworks in 2015.She graduated with a First Class Honors degree in Computer Systems Engineering from the prestigious Computing School of the University of Manchester, creator of the world's first computer, "baby".
Joel Blake OBE
Joel is a multi-award-winning businessman and public speaker specialising in inclusive business growth. Joel is the Founder & CEO of www.gfaexchange.com an award-winning FinTech portfolio risk management solution for the financial services sector. Previously, he was the Executive for Access to Finance and Growing Business (GBSLEP) and former National Diversity Advisor for Golf. He also advises professional service firms and public sector bodies on inclusive business support strategies. Joel is also the President of the Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce, a Fellow of the National Centre for Entrepreneurs and a Non-Executive Director of two organisations. He was awarded an OBE in 2016 for Services to Business Support and Enterprise.
Avril Chester
Avril is an award-winning technology entrepreneur, executive, speaker, author and cancer thriver. She is the Founder and CEO of Cancer Central, Chief Technology Officer at Royal Institute of British Architects, one of the three Digital Amigos (podcast series), author of 'Be with me, it's c' and 'Taking That Leap of Faith'. Featured in Computer Weekly's most influential women in UK IT 2020 long list, Avril won Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2019 Women in IT Awards. She loves good food, big dreams and a giggle.
Jacqueline de Rojas CBE
Jacqueline is the President of techUK, President of Digital Leaders, co-chair at the Institute of Coding, and a non-executive Director on Rightmove, Costain and FDM Group boards. As a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in all its forms, she is an adviser to the board of Accelerate-Her and fast-moving tech businesses and a business advisor mentor at Merryck. Before this, Jacqueline held senior executive roles at major tech companies, including Sage Group, Citrix Systems, CA Technologies, Novell and McAfee International. She was previously a non-executive director at AO World and Home Retail Group. Jacqueline was awarded CBE for Services to International Trade in Technology in the Queen's New Year Honours list 2018.
Joanna Drake
Joanne's career began at an IT help desk. There she learned that technology can be a game-changer for a business and wanted to fix the bigger problem. Joanne progressed into service management strategy roles at Diageo, Accenture and Yahoo. She has held senior positions, including Head of Global Service Management at Betfair and the BBC, helping to build a world-class centralised operations team. Her leadership roles include Global Technology Services group and then CTO at Wood Mackenzie, Senior director of engineering at Skyscanner. She is currently CIO at The Hut group. Jo is a people-orientated leader passionate about leadership, diversity and inclusion. She also sits on the advisory boards of Global Business intelligence (GBI) and UK IT Leaders group.
Jane Gilmour
Jane is an experienced global CTO, currently responsible for the architecture and infrastructure of Marks and Spencers. She has previously held senior IT positions in multiple industries, including CTO for the international businesses of The Coca-Cola Company; and Head of Technology Services Enterprise Architecture and Delivery at Barclays Bank. Before that, she was the CTO for GE Capital EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). Jane also worked for Accenture and JPMorgan in IT specialist architecture, enablement and operational roles across technical tiers. She is passionate about technology and all it can enable.
Ian Golding
Ian Golding has been Chief Information Officer, Chief Technical Officer and Data Privacy Officer leading global commercial technology programmes for over 20 years. He has a passion for fostering collaboration and innovation to exploit the benefits of technology and data in permanent, interim, fractional and private consulting roles. In 2017 As the RNLI's first CIO (Interim) he created the Institution's first digital, information and technology strategy. Most recently, he was Interim CIO at leading STEM skills provider SThree Plc, and Interim CIO at The Natural History Museum. Ian was also recently Interim IT Director at Southern Housing Group. Before Interim roles, was Group CIO, Data Privacy Officer and Senior Partner for The ERM Group through its largest growth phase over four private equity cycles, to 5,200 staff across 140 offices worldwide.
Nitin Gupta
Nitin Gupta is Director for UK Financial Services at Tata Consultancy Services, enabling growth and transformation for customers in the geography. He's an established business leader with over two decades of industry experience across the globe – driving strategic sales through thought leadership and innovative business solutions. He's an ambassador of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) and is passionate about giving back to society. He has been named one of 'Leading Lights in the UK for Kindness' and winner of 'WIT – Male Ally of the Year'.
Cecilia Harvey
Cecilia is the Chief Executive Officer of Hyve Dynamics, the pioneering sensor technology firm and the founder and chair of Tech Women Today. Having started on Wall Street, her 20-year career in banking and technology has spanned senior positions with Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital, and IBM Consulting, as well as former COO of Citigroup Markets and Securities Services Technology. Cecilia appears in Forbes's "Leading Ladies of Tech" and has been featured in British Vogue's 2020 "Forces for Change" campaign.
Zoe Morris
Zoë Morris serves as the President of Frank Recruitment Group, the market leader in technology resourcing, and oversees their ongoing business and sales operations, employee training, and hiring initiatives. Under Zoë's leadership, Frank Recruitment Group has consistently achieved substantial year-on-year growth, as well as industry recognition for their work in supporting diversity and inclusion initiatives in technology.
Georgina Owens
Georgina is the CTO at Liberis, a fintech delivering embedded finance solutions supporting small and medium-size business growth. Her passion is serving the customer delivering business improvement through quick, decisive actions balanced within the strategic enterprise framework she has developed. Having worked across multiple sectors, building high performing teams, delivering business value through product and technology, she is a huge champion of diversity and a role model for women across the industry. She is a regular contributor to tech events and panels, a board-level advisor and a mentor for startups.
Claire Priestley
A former Women in IT Award Winner herself, Claire has featured in the CIO100 list in 2018, 2019 and 2020, is Founder of CIO+1, a Director of IT / CIO with particular experience in the education sector, and sits on the Board of Trustees for UCISA – a member-led body for digital practitioners. As her 'side-hustle', Claire is co-founder and director of The Secret Boxing Gym, London.
Tavier Taylor
Tavier is a board-level global IT Leader and Digital IT transformation specialist who guides technology strategies and governance frameworks for multi-national organisations to transform their technology landscape. Tavier's value proposition includes: leveraging extensive IT leadership experience across Europe, the Americas and Asia to create agile digital strategies that streamline complex business processes; recruiting and developing specialist IT teams while structuring resources to successfully address critical technical issues; scoping and implementing both IT and broader business change initiatives to positively impact revenue while ensuring compliance, and building collaborative key stakeholder relationships up to Board level to ensure alignment of business objectives with IT deliverables.
Elizabeth T Vega OBE
Elizabeth holds a variety of high profile industry representative roles, including; Member of the UK Govt. Cabinet Office Small & Medium Business Panel, Chair of the Culture & Capability Working Group and Member of the Public Sector Procurement Innovation Panel, where she champions the creation of a diverse, innovative and competitive supplier marketplace. Elizabeth is a UK Govt. Department for International Trade (DIT) Northern Powerhouse Export Champion, a Bank of England Agent, and ScaleUp Institute' Access to Markets & Finance' Committee Member. Most recently, Elizabeth was appointed to the International Trade Policy Advisory Panel supporting the official negotiation teams of both nations on the Australian-UK Free Trade Agreement. Elizabeth is a member of the Leaders Council of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the strategic Advisory Board for the Open University. She was the first person to be an elected Director at leading technology trade associations in both the UK and Australia with techUK, where she was a Main Board Member for eight years. She served two terms as National Deputy Chair of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA).
Joanne Webb
Joanne is a board-level director with a background in e-commerce, marketing and digital transformation. She has a track record of turning around poor performance, driving cost efficiencies and delivering exceptional results with some of the biggest (and smallest) names in the retail, leisure and entertainment sectors, including Disney, Vue, Gap, Universal Pictures and more recently Merlin Entertainments. At the end of October last year, Joanne set up a networking group for senior women to support, share knowledge, laugh and learn (over a cheeky glass of wine!). She thought it would be a small group, but it's already topped 550 members globally, and there's plenty of room for further growth - contact her if you'd like to join.
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